Partial results showed Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh trailing his main rival in a presidential election on Friday, raising the prospect of an unprecedented upset for a leader who has pledged to rule the West African nation for a billion years.
Results read out on state TV showed Jammeh’s rival, real estate developer Adama Barrow, had 44 percent of the vote against Jammeh’s 40 percent and 15 percent for Mammah Kandeh.
Multiple civil society sources released identical results on Twitter, despite efforts by Gambian authorities to seal off all communication with the outside world, with 39 out of 53 constituencies counted.
Gambians voted on Thursday amid a total blackout of the internet and all international calls, and with land borders sealed, in a poll posing the first serious challenge to Jammeh since he seized power in a coup in 1994.
Earlier this week Jammeh said that his “presidency and power are in the hands of Allah and only Allah can take it from me”.
Gambia’s electoral commission head said on Friday that President Yahya Jammeh would concede defeat in an election, bringing a shock end to his 22 years in power since he staged a coup.
Alieu Momarr Njai was speaking to reporters at the electoral commission in Banjul.
